Pundits say the Boilermakers have the easiest path of the top contenders for the Big Ten Conference championship. Easy, however, is a relative term.

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The combined record of Purdue's seven remaining Big Ten opponents is 30-62.

The Boilermakers also have home games against Ohio State and Illinois remaining.

Purdue still plays road games at Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota and Northwestern.

WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue basketball had barely shuffled out of Maryland's Xfinity Center on Tuesday night when things started getting weird up the road in State College, Pa.

Michigan coach John Beilein, after receiving his second technical foul, was excused from coaching the second half. The first-place Wolverines went on to lose to last-place Penn State, and suddenly, the Boilermakers' own 70-56 loss didn't seem like such a missed opportunity.

No. 12 Purdue now welcomes their benefactors, the Nittany Lions, to Mackey Arena on Saturday. First place remains only a half game away in the standings. The Boilermakers are still tied in the loss column with the leaders at three apiece.

Of the top four contenders for the Big Ten regular season championship, Purdue — on paper — faces what many consider the easiest road. While it is the only team of the four that must still play seven games, and the only one which must play more road games than home games in the closing stretch, the numbers suggest a competitive edge.

Purdue Boilermakers forward Trevion Williams (50) grabs a rebound after a shot by the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half of the game at Mackey Arena.(Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)

As of Thursday afternoon, Purdue's seven remaining opponents combined for a conference record of 30-62 (.326 winning percentage). After Ohio State lost at Illinois on Thursday, none of those seven owns a winning Big Ten record.

Compared to the road ahead for first place-sharing Michigan State (41-40) and Michigan (52-32) and fourth-place Maryland (44-36), you can understand why some feel the Boilermakers enter the stretch in favorable position. (Michigan State and Michigan still play home-and-home, as do the Wolverines and Maryland, so I counted all of those team's records twice.)

Las Vegas should favor Purdue to win all of its remaining games. KenPom.com's algorithms predict a 7-0 finish, with probability ranging from 58 percent (at Nebraska) to 91 percent (home against Illinois).

Yet even computers — especially computers — know to throw out the eye test and and expect the unexpected. KenPom still predicts only a 15-5 Big Ten record for Purdue, which means somewhere in those likely victories, it knows a couple of losses may be lurking.

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The redshirt freshman guard looks back on that second half at Maryland and ahead to Saturday's rematch with the Nittany Lions.
Nathan Baird, jconline.com

One can go game-by-game and find some kernel of treachery waiting to grow into an upset that, as with last season's slip-up at Wisconsin, factors into the championship conclusion.

Start with Saturday's visit from Penn State — a team that did Purdue a big favor earlier this week.

The Jan. 31 trip to State College should remain fresh in the Boilermakers' minds. Penn State beat Purdue on the boards, enjoyed one of its best 3-point shooting nights of the season and led by two in the final minute of regulation.

Nittany Lions coach Patrick Chambers later said the plan was to deny Carsen Edwards the ball on an inbounds in the final seconds. That did not happen. Edwards' coast-to-coast layup and Nojel Eastern's blocked shot at the buzzer forced overtime, where the Boilermakers pulled away.

"The fact that they're 0-10 in the Big Ten is crazy to me," Purdue senior Ryan Cline said.

Well they're not anymore. After that loss, Penn State snapped an eight-game losing streak by winning at Northwestern, fought Ohio State to the end in a 74-70 loss in Columbus, then stunned the No. 6 Wolverines.

Not only does Penn State have the frontcourt talent and depth to battle Purdue's big men, not only does it feature an athletic balance that can test this defense, but it also comes to Mackey Arena on Saturday with as much confidence as it has had all season.

After that, Purdue heads south for another rematch with rival Indiana. Winter in Bloomington has been a mirror image of the one in West Lafayette, with the Hoosiers losing nine of their past 10. The lone exception was an overtime win at Michigan State that reminded how dangerous Indiana can be on a given night.

The Boilermakers did not play a stellar game in a 70-55 home victory on Jan. 19. Indiana missed a bunch of shots (including a miserable 4 of 20 from 3-point range). Foul trouble and Eastern's defense limited freshman star Romeo Langford to eight points in 22 minutes.

Who's to say those circumstances can replicate in Assembly Hall?

The road trip continues that weekend at Nebraska, and if you're dismissing that as a victory due to the Cornhuskers' recent struggles, you're not familiar with Purdue's history in that building.

Remember 2014, when Jay Simpson collapsed, Sterling Carter tore his ACL and a season trending toward a last-place Big Ten finish somehow went from bad to worse? Remember two years ago, when Jack McVeigh and Jeriah Horne delivered a late-January loss that sure looked like it damaged Purdue's chances of a Big Ten championship.

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The Boilermaker coach on his team's third consecutive overtime victory at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Nathan Baird, jconline.com

A year ago, Nebraska did not have access to the kind of games necessary to play its way into the postseason. It does now, and Purdue will absolutely be on its list.

Prior to Thursday, the Illini been a different team at home (three straight victories), than away (0-6 in true road games). A 63-56 victory in Columbus changed that narrative, and Illinois has won four straight and five of its past six.

Maryland, Michigan State and Ohio State show up on the recent roster of vanquished foes. An intriguing young nucleus is building around Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili. Expect the Illini to turn up the defensive intensity, much like Maryland did to trigger its second-half buzzsaw against Purdue on Tuesday night.

You can put Ohio State and Minnesota, two opponents Purdue has already beaten (with some difficulty), into the same category. If the Boilermakers don't get Kaleb Wesson in foul trouble in Columbus, perhaps they don't build, or hold onto, that 15-point lead.

The Buckeyes had won four of five since that defeat on Jan. 23 before losing at home to Illinois on Thursday. Teams not playing for a Big Ten championship or even trying to stay off the buzzer would still see a lot of value in knocking off a top 15 team on the road.

Minnesota led Purdue 47-34 with a little over 14 minutes to play at Mackey Arena on Feb. 3. The Boilermakers struggled to contain freshman big man Daniel Oturu and were fortunate the Golden Gophers' perimeter shooting (12.5 percent) was worse than theirs (20.8).

The Mackey Arena crowd helped stoke the rally that eventually led to Purdue's 73-63 victory. No such boost awaits at Williams Arena.

Let's say Purdue navigates that entire minefield and goes to Northwestern for the March 9 regular-season finale with a championship on the line. The Wildcats' current Big Ten record includes four losses by a combined eight points. The Boilermakers already know, from personal experience, that Vic Law and Dererk Pardon can create matchup problems.

This is not a prediction that Purdue will falter in its championship pursuit.

Michigan and Michigan State are, mathematically, guaranteed to combine for two more losses. The Wolverines and Maryland can also help spoil each other's bid. Purdue has increasingly proven itself capable of finding the solution to any given night's problem, unless that problem is a shooting performance so pungent that it overwhelms all other positives.

This is simply a reminder that nothing goes exactly as planned, especially in the Big Ten, especially on the road and especially this season.

Purdue's remaining schedule may look smooth from here, but one pothole can do a lot of damage.